Improvement in machine-knitted hosiery



'B. F. SHAW. MACHINE KNITTED HOSIAEYRY.

Patentefi Abr. 23. 1867.

UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN F. SHA\V, OF SOUTI-I DANVERS, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINE-KNITTED HOSIERY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 64,154, dated April 23, 1867.

To all whom it may concern:

description, reference being had to the ac-.

companying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspective elevation.

Figure 2, a plan or top view.

Figure 3 represents a side view of a continuous tube of twoshort socks,having been knit together according to my improved method, with projecting portions Aand B, which form the heel and toe of the sock.

Figure 4 shows the toe of one sock formed of one portion B after the tube has been cut off on the red line C for that purpose.

Figure 5 shows in perspective a sock completed from the tube, the, toe having been formed of the portion B and the heel of the portion A of the tube, leaving enough of the knit tube beyond the top D of the formed sock for another stocking or sock.

To knit my improved stockings, hose, or socks, the knitting is commenced at the top end D of the sock, stocking, or tube, and continued in a tubular form to about on the red line F, shown in fig. 1, allowing any desired length for the leg. After knitting down to the line F, the needles which perform the work on the front from a to b are thrown out of action, while the needles from a to c are kept in action, except such as are necessarily withdrawn at each side, and one or two at a time, to narrow the portion G, which forms the back of the heel from a 0 down to d. All the needles are then brought into action and knit from one to four times round, if desired, on the double dotted line a b d. The stitches formed by knitting these few times round are intended by preference to give the requisite amplitude or fullness to that portion of the work or web which is to become the heel, and to fill up any openings or drawn stitches on the line d to a. The front needles are again thrown out of action, while the back needles knit from (Z, where onlya few of the needles, or those which were used at the end of the narrowing process, are operated, gradually widening and taking up the stitches on the line cl a until the portion H is formed to the line I, thus forming the projecting portion A, shown in fig. 3. All the needles are then brought into action and tubular knitting is performed to the desired length for the foot of the sock or other article being knit, when another narrowing and a widening operation is performed to form the projecting portion B of the tube, fig. '3, which forms the toe of the sock, stocking, or hose, the upper portion f of which having been out off from the knit tube is brought up onto the toe end, and the stitches at the end of said portion f connected with those at the end of the front part 9 of the top of the foot and a thread or yarn run through all the stitches on both parts, thus connecting them together and forming a very perfect sock, stocking, or hose with only one apparent seam, and that seam across the top of the toe and between the parts g and f, and made by uniting stitches together. The top end of each seek or stocking cut off from the knit tube may be hemmed or bound to prevent raveling. Stockings, hose, or socks of any size, or mittens, can be knit on this principle, and the heels or toes, or thumbs of mittens, made more or less rounded by narrowing on the portion G to a greater or less extent, that is, by narrowing down to near the point d of the heel or portion A of the tube, as at 1, 2, 3, or at, and so on, thus making a full round heel or a pointed heel; and in fact a stocking may be knit by my improved plan that may be worn with ease and comfort upon a foot of almost any form, whereas knitted stockings or hose that are partly sewed together underneath or at the side of the foot present numerous hard seams, rough and uneven places, which chafe the foot or press against it and create a tenderness and frequently a soreness, rendering it difficult or quite impossible for many persons to wear them.

In knitting my improved stocking, hose, or sock, I am not confined to any particular kind of material, but can use any material of which such articles are usually knit or made. Besides, no stock is wasted in form ing as completely a sock or stocking on my improved plan as is common in making such I claim articles by partly sewing them together, and As a new article of manufacture a mathe amount of labor required to complete chine-made stocking, hose, or sock, knlt or my socks or stockings is much less than that formed in the manner set forth. required by those made by the ordinary mode I BENJ. F. SHAYV.

of partly knitting and partly sewing, as the Witnesses: wknittingmay be performed with nearly the JOHN E. CRANE, same rapidity as straight tubular knitting. J. S. W'HITNEY. 

